George Boris Sidline (b. 1934)

George Boris Sidline was born October 22, 1934 in Kobe, Japan to Boris and Fania Sidline. He had one brother, Alexander. Both boys attended primary and secondary school in Japan before the family immigrated to Canada in 1954.

George’s father first immigrated to Japan in 1918. He had fought during the Bolshevik Revolution in Vladivostok, and as soon as it ended he boarded the last ship bound for Japan. After arriving in Kobe, he opened an import/export business, as well as a grocery store. He would own and operate his business until a final air raid in June 1945 destroyed it. His wife Fania originally came from Lithuania, arriving in Kobe via Harbin and Shanghai, China. The couple got married in Kobe in 1928. They had Alexander in 1931, and George three years later in 1934.

In 1954, once Alexander and George were grown and college bound, Boris and Fania applied for resident visas in Canada, the US, and Australia, seeking better opportunities for the boys. Canada and Australia granted the family visas, and they chose Montreal, Canada.

George met the woman who would become his wife when they were five-year-old children in Kobe. They lived across the street from each other. Her family moved to San Francisco in 1946. Eight years after George’s family moved Montreal, George took a vacation to visit her and they married in 1962.

Museum Hours

Lefty's Cafe Hours

Monday: Closed

Tuesday - Friday: 11-3

Saturday and Sunday: 12-3

Admission

Adults: $8

Students/Seniors (62+): $5

12 and Under: Free

Free on each First Thursday of the month 5-8pm

The Oregon Jewish Museum and Center for Holocaust Education incorporates the archives of the Jewish Historical Society of Oregon. OJMCHE is a constituent agency of the Jewish Federation of Greater Portland and an institutional member of the Council of American Jewish Museums and American Alliance of Museums.